Biology post-doc Ruslandi and faculty Claudia Romero and Jack Putz have an important new paper on tropical forest management practices (in press in Forest Policy and Economics). They address the brewing debate over the costs and benefits of intensification of natural forest management in the tropics with solid timber, carbon, and financial data. Their paper presents the financial and other consequences of industrial-scale enrichment planting in logged-over dipterocarp forest in Kalimantan, Indonesia. The study is based on permanent sample plot data and stand simulations described in two recently published papers in the journal, Forest Ecology and Management. They recommend sound landscape planning of forest management operations so that intensification happens only where it makes the most financial and environmental sense.
